Candidacy Speech

We can look back at just the past six months and see a pattern to our suffering.

We are suffering from uncontrolled rate increases at the hands of the Department of Public Utilities. Rate increases that are unanimously rubber-stamped ‘YES’ by our County Council.

At a time when housing is in short supply and the voters are being saddled with more costs to support our County government, we are suffering from our land being given away by those that are supposed to have our best interests in mind. Our County Council spent $2 million dollars improving a piece of property for development and then gave it away for $400 thousand to a developer. This is the estimated cost of one of the units to be built on that property. They are estimating over 200 units will be built.

By ignoring the voters with regard to the Recreational Bond and the Sheriff, we are suffering from a government that chooses what they think is in our best interests by interpreting what we meant with our votes.

With the increased enforcement of the Nuisance Code and proposed Neighborhood Associations, we are suffering from excessive enforcement and government overreach.

We are suffering the fools that lead our County government and we suffer our County Council. Those same people that held pre-election meetings with the public and went door-to-door asking for your vote, offering to bring your voice to rule, no longer have town meetings. They no longer care to hear you.

It is time to put an end to our suffering.

It is time for our County government to have some stake in the game, to be a member of the community. No longer should they ask for larger budgets or bring rate increases to the County Council without documenting how they have reduced their costs and done everything they can to minimize increased costs to us. As our representatives, the County Council should scrutinize and manage the costs of our County government. They are our checks and balances over it.

The $2 million dollar property gift in White Rock should have included benefits to our community. It should have represented the Council’s stated concerns about the lack of affordable housing. It should have addressed our suffering local retail businesses by mandating the use of local businesses, services and labor. It should have kept the dollars in our town. Our County Council did none of these things when they gave away our land.

It is time for our County government and County Council to be reminded of whom they serve. It is time to show them that when we say ‘Yes’, we mean ‘Yes’. When we say ‘No’, we mean ‘No’.

I understand the narrowness of the vote regarding the Rec Bond. I understand an almost 50/50 vote is not a mandate in one direction or another. Common sense would have called for asking the voters to prioritize the desire for new toys, then a balanced solution that represented a need for a short list of new toys, some funds for fixing our infrastructure and some savings for unanticipated financial events.

The Council needs to change its position on the Homeowner’s Association approach in commanding our homeowners about their personal property. Community Development has overextended themselves, at the direction of the County Council, to overtly enforce the Nuisance Ordinance for petty violations. The Nuisance Ordinance should be there to enforce egregious violations and eyesores, not minor aesthetics. Being complaint driven and then assessed worked just fine for our community, with half the staffing.

We have seven Councilors that act as one. They have abrogated their role to represent us, the owners of this community, to allow the County government to run amuck over us, at our expense.

To paraphrase Plato, One of the penalties of refusing to participate in politics is that you risk ending up being governed by those with standards different than your own.

Tonight, I stop complaining and start taking action.

We need to replace the members of the County Council with people who represent a voice of common sense, a focus on transparency and accountability.

Tonight, I announce my candidacy to represent you, the voters of Los Alamos County, as your next representative to the Los Alamos County Council.